Albania is well known for its international trafficking of women but less famous for being the country were one third of women are beaten by their husbands. According to a report published in October 2011 by the Immigration and refugee Board of Canada (IRBC), of the 2,590 women who participated in the survey:
- 50.6 percent had experienced emotional abuse.
- 39.1 percent had experienced psychological abuse.
- 31.2 percent had experienced physical violence.
- 12.7 percent had experienced sexual violence.
This poll shows that one woman in two is affected by this curse and one woman in three is physically assaulted. And these numbers won’t decrease in the next few months because the Albanian legislation and judicial institutions are not strict enough.
Poster published during the 2007 campaign against domestic violence.
The kanun, traditional Albanian law
The kanun is a set of traditional Albanian laws. According to the report from UNICEF, the Kanun imposes certain duties to the woman:
According to Kanun rules, a man has the right to beat and publicly humiliate his wife if she disobeys her husband. The man is allowed to cut his wife’s hair, strip her nude, expel her from the house and drive her with a whip through the village”
But tradition is going a little further, giving to the husband the right of life and death for his wife:
The Kanun specifies that a man may kill his wife for two reasons: infidelity and betrayal of hospitality. It forbids
women from speaking with guests who visit the house or entering the men’s room without being asked by her husband.”
Of course, this rule is very rarely if ever used. But it helps to understand where the Albanian society is coming from: a country with a strong patriarchal tradition based on male domination over women (like most European countries).
Laws do exist, in theory
After the communist dictatorship, Albania had to rebuild its whole legal arsenal. In 1992, the first law to protect women appeared but it only targeted sexual assault. We have to wait until 2007 to see the first law about domestic violence. After that 20 000 citizens from a dozen of Albanian associations signed a petition, the parliament had to pass the “Law on Measures against Violence In Family Relations“. A first measure thanks to the population.
Yet, according to the IRBC survey, only 6% of women denounce their abusers to a social or judicial institution. The cause? The lack of trust in justice that the Albanian people have. Thus women are not encouraged to go to the police.
In addition, the law is far for being complete. It does not recognize, for example, rape between husband and wife, battering and other violent acts, murdering, wounding and bullying. So, what is the definition of “domestic violence” if it does not include all of these? According to the law article:
“Violence” is any act or omission of one person against another, resulting in violation of the physical, moral, psychological, sexual, social and economic integrity.”
A large definition completed by the one on “domestic violence”:
“Domestic violence” is any act of violence pursuant to point one of this one article committed between persons who are or used to be in a family relation.”
So large that the law does not include half of the domestic violence acts…
Nonetheless, according to the penal law (still in theory), in cases of “serious intentional injury,” the criminal code calls for three to ten years imprisonment, while in cases of “non-serious intentional injury,” the accused does not risk a lot: between a fine and two years imprisonment.
Incompetences from police and judges?
So, it was only in 2007 that domestic violence emerged in the public domain. The following year, the prime minister Sali Berisha decided that 2008 was the year “against domestic violence”.
During this year, police got training sessions and a (in depth?) learning about the new law and its application. It seems that after these months of education, every station now welcomes a specific structure to frame complaints of domestic violence. However, according to the IRBC report, police neglect women who come to sue their husbands because of excessive use of the civil code and not the criminal code.
And what is up on the Justice side? No current statistics are available on the number of domestic violence incidents reported to the Court or on the results of trials…
Nevertheless, the police and judicial world remain a small world of men. They do not leave any space for women and their complaints. It also explains the dysfunction of the current law.
Go further: NATIONAL STRATEGY ON GENDER EQUALITY AND DOMESTIC VIOLENCE ( 2010 report, critiques on the law by the minister of Labor, social affairs and equal opportunity).
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Bullshit!
We don’t go to psychologist, we talk to each other about anything. Whatever happens, neighbors, friends and relatives come to know. And stories of men beating their woman are quite rare.
Furthermore, with 1/3 chances as you claim, you would see woman with signs of violence everywhere you turn your eyes in the street.
The truth is, thousands of Albanians study psychology, public communication, politic sciences, and other easy but useless disciplines. There is no job for such qualifications, but many of them managed to self employ themselves by creating countless NGOs that live with the money of EU and USA taxpayers.
This is a war for survival: they have to report dramatic situations in their respective fields in order to justify the money they get, and they don’t know how to do anything other than this.
Bullshit? Funny, i have got another experiences. I get married with albanian, all our relationship he beat me. Even his father is beating his wife, brother of this wife is beating his wife aswell. And i will not contine..
If woman is victim of domestic violence doesnt mean that you have to see some bruises, scars and tears in eyes..
Hello Elena,
I do not think that what I write is bullshit or if so, you’re saying that the UN report and the Candian report are bullshit… I have put links in the article, click on it and you’ll see where all my statistics come from.
Then, it is not because you don’t see anything that there is nothing happening. If you only believe what you see…I wish I could live in the same world as you.
You say ” thousands of Albanians study psychology, public communication, politic sciences, and other easy but useless disciplines.” Useless? excuse-me? So, what did you study? Science? Economy?
I do not think the disciplines as useless ones. You are saying that studying human, who you are, is useless. I studied history, journalism and now international relations and you are telling that is all useless. Well, at least, I’m giving information about Albania that you seem to ignore (and do not believe…). You are welcome
I’m sorry, but do you really believe that 1/3 (or even 1/30) of albanian females are beaten (which means that every day you are bound to see tens of beaten woman) and not be able to notice anything, and every one of them perfectly hides not only physical signs, but emotional ones as well?
About every Albanian kid (as the rest of the world) has an account in facebook. They post there even the most banal and unimportant things. Where are the testimonies of these traumatized kids? Or of their friends?
And if the signs of violence can’t be seen, and people don’t talk about them, how on earth did UN gather those data?
About the “authority” of those ‘UN and Candian reports’…
Da Vinci is believed to have said:
“Anyone who conducts an argument by appealing to authority is not using his intelligence; he is just using his memory”
These reports are nothing else but an insult to the intelligence.
How they got this data? Did you read all the interviews they did?
Please, for your own information, reach one of the Albanian associations about domestic violence and talk to them. You might realize something…
Then, “traumatize kids” won’t say anything because it is not in the Albanian society to expose their problem: corruption, sex trafficking, domestic violence, poverty, pedophilia,… Do you really expect people to put on FACEBOOK that they saw their father beat their mother? It is secret, it is family.
You know, it is like if you were telling me their is not gay in Albania, no transsexual,…because you can’t see it.
Last thing, I supposed you are living in Tirana, right?
And yes, if there is no demand for people qualified in a certain field, they are useless, by definition.
You are useless
Well Beruska am sorry to hear that, but u know this can happen in all over the world, and that doesnt mean every albanian man beats his wife,am albanian and all the people I know(friends,relatives etc including myself) are married to albanians and noone gets beat!!!! so dont make it look like that way!!!
hello Ema
It is true that it also happens in a lot of other countries like in France, where I am from. But, it does not mean that we should not talk about. Albania is a country where women traffic is currently happening, where man are still really macho and where women think that everything of that is normal…
Also, if you read some interviews, you’re gonna understand: so please, read this http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CCYQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.unicef.org%2Falbania%2Fdomviol_eng.pdf&ei=fSOAUID8NOTJ0AHNqoGIBQ&
I hope you will understand how domestic violence work: it is a shame for the woman so she is not going to say anything.
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